Raid on Handa
Background After losing control of the waters around Osaka after the disastrous Battle of Awaji-shima against the Communist Party of Japan and the subsequent losses at the Battle of Lake Hamana against the postwar Japanese state, the Shogunate navy mostly remained in port on the Ise and Mikawa Bays near Nagoya in order to avoid losses while acting as a "fleet in being" to discourage JSDF and CPJ attacks on Shogunate-controlled waters. As the main Nagoya port lay in ruins after the nuclear war of 2077, the Shogunate had to make do with smaller surviving port facilities. One of the main port facilities used was located at Handa, to the southeast of Nagoya on Mikawa Bay. These docks had been targeted by Japanese State air attacks, however, with the relatively few pre-war Lockreed P-80 fighters being the only aircraft fast enough to evade the mostly gun-based Shogunate AA defenses, and the handful of more advanced pre-war aircraft deemed to valuable to risk in operations over enemy territory, the effect of air attacks were limited. The utility of air raids was also further limited by the rarity of pre-war guided munitions and the unreliability of those that remained, meaning air attacks often used unguided bombs or rockets, severely limiting their accuracy. Naval bombardments had also been attempted, but the Shogunate minefields within about ten kilometers of the coast made it difficult for JSDF ships to get close enough to fire on them. The waters around Handa were heavily mined, so it was deemed too much of a risk to deploy the one operational pre-war submarine JS Kuroshio to directly torpedo the Shogunate fleet in harbor. In order to strike at the Shogunate fleet, it was proposed in 2260 that the pre-war power armor units left by US forces after the Liberation of Japan, which had a built in rebreather for underwater operations, be used to allow special forces deployed from the submarine offshore to literally walk on the sea floor into the harbor and place explosives on the bottom of the hulls of the docked ships. Forces Involved The JSDF troops involved in the on Handa were all members of the Special Forces Group trained in the use of rebreathers and power armor. Specifically, the unit was armed equipped with T-45UD underwater demolition variants of the T-45 power armor left in Japan by US troops at the time of the Great War. These power armor units were equipped with an air-tight seal and a rebreather for underwater operations. Each diver was also equipped with a limpet charge fitted with high-powered magnets and filled with about 2 kilograms of C-4 explosives, intended to be placed on the bottom of a ship, at which point a 30 minute timer was to be activated. As the divers were not intended to surface, they carried few small arms, most only armed with suppressed N-99 10mm handguns, which some also has MP9 10mm SMGs or postwar-manufactured crossbows capable of acting as a speargun when used underwater. The Operation The raid on Handa was launched at 0200 hours on August 22nd, 2261, with the submarine JS Kuroshio slipping beneath the outer Shogunate mine barrage at the entrance to Ise bay and to the east into Tita Bay. At 220 hours, the twelve divers in specially equipped power armor exited the submarine at a location about seven kilometers from target. The divers navigated using night vision equipment and navigation systems built in to the visors of the power armor to avoid using lights that could have resulted in their detection, making their way to the target area at around 0300 hours without being detected by Shogunate patrol boats or shore observers. The divers placed two limpet mines on four Shogunate auxiliary cruisers- converted pre-war merchant ships, as well as three on a pre-war frigate. The remainder of the mines were placed on the entrance locks to one of two surviving pre-war dry docks at Handa. The placement of the explosives was completed with in ten minutes, at which point the divers retreated towards the center of Tita Bay, following homing beacon signals from the Kuroshio to locate the submarine. At 0354 hours, the divers returned the Kuroshio and, using magnetic latches on the UDT variant of the power armor, attached themselves to the exterior of the submarine, riding on the exterior of the vessel until the submarine exited Shogunate-controlled water and could safely surface to allow the divers to re-enter the vessel. The limpet charges detonated between 0331 and 0339 hours, while the divers were still in the water, but still well clear of the blast. The charges punched holes in the bottom of all five ships they were placed on. With damage control systems being practically non-existent on the converted cargo ships, and even the pre-war frigate lacking much of the proper equipment and/or trained crew, all fives ships sunk within five minutes, resulting in the total loss of the Shogunate pre-war frigate Yamashiro and four armed merchant ships. The doors to the dry dock were also destroyed. As the Shogunate, like most postwar factions, lacked the means to effectively raise and repair the ships, even though they were sunk in port, all five ships were total losses. The charges on the dry dock caused similar levels of irreparable damage, with the locks doors being completely destroy, flooding the dry dock. Without the means to repair it, the Shogunate were effectively down to only a single operation dry dock in Handa. Category:Battles